April 2026

Manny Carabel/Getty Images Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… Boxer braids? Buddha knots? Cloud bob? What now? In a since-removed image of Tracee Ellis Ross in a Vogue article about flattering haircuts for thicker hair types, her bouffant afro, beautifully captured framing her face, was instead called something else: a “cloud bob.”  While bobs are undoubtedly trending and Ross’s fluffy ‘fro meets the style’s length requirement, the article quickly triggered a unified sentiment: “It’s 2026 and we’re gonna stop Christopher Columbus-ing Black people’s hairstyles,” said creator RaeShanda Lias in a TikTok video with over 70,000 likes (and counting). According to another creator known as certifiedreadergirl on the same platform, “they are trying to erase the afro so white people, particularly the Kardashians and the...